The Welland Youngs Insurance Tigers
travelled to Niagara Falls on Friday night to take on the Flyers. All players in the line-up had a great game.
Defenseman
Kyle Zenga opened the scoring for the Tigers with a bullet from the blue line
assisted by Blake Marton. Second to
hammer the net was Mackenzie Taylor.
Matteo Valleriani was third to score racing down the wing beating the
opposing defenseman and igniting the canon that would blast a shot past the
goalie. Ethan Fortier was fourth to
strike while Cade Bovine found the empty net to end it late in the third.
Saturday marked the last home game of the regular season. The Tigers suited up to face the Port Colborne Sailors in what proved to be the toughest and most entertaining game of the season. Not only did the team perform with full honors but the home referee duo refed one heck of a game! Players from both teams spent a whopping 30 minutes in the sin bin; 8 minutes were awarded to the Tigers while the Chiefs, or rather the Sailors were granted 22.
The rough and tumble incidents in the game did not deter the Tigers from sticking to the game plan but rather ignited the fire that was to spark the team effort needed to walk in to play downs next weekend. The coaching staff were extremely pleased with the work ethic and team play put forward by all players.
Once again, a defenceman was to strike first. Number 44, Kalen Sumbler started with a great rush to the net to open the scoring assisted by Lucas Homan. Second was Austin Bovine assisted by Cade Bovine and Blake Marton. Lucas Homan hit third assisted by Evan Gaspich. The Tigers fourth goal was scored after a beautiful dangle by Mackenzie Taylor; assisted by Jaxson Beck. Last but not least, Joseph Boychuk scored unassisted.
As the season quickly comes to an end it is evident that all members are geared up and ready to head to Glanbrook next weekend for play downs.
Glanbrook will be hosting the Niagara Minor Atom A OMHA Playdowns tournament beginning on Friday February 1st which will see Welland, Grimsby, Glanbrook, Stoney Creek, Niagara Falls and Garden City fighting to represent our area in the OMHA Quarterfinals. Niagara is one of the lone areas in Ontario to use the tournament format to determine their qualifier, with nearly everyone else opting for several sets of series. One improvement this season is that the two teams advancing to Sunday's Championship round will compete in a four-point series to determine who advances from Niagara instead of the one game winner-takes-all format that has been used in the past several seasons.